Dr.-Ing. Stefan Loehle is heading the High Enthalpy Flow Diagnostics Group and is heading the Plasma Wind Tunnel Laboratory at IRS. He completed his PhD in 2006, was Post-Doc at Université de Bordeaux, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology and the German Aerospace Center before becoming a permanent Academic at IRS. His research focuses on the development and application of diagnostic methods to foster the understanding of atmospheric entry maneuvers and the implications thereof, i.e. space debris, atmospheric impact, or heat shield performance. He cooperates with many renowned institutions worldwide for sensor development and investigation, e.g. NASA Ames Research Center, NASA SciFli, ESA, University of Kentucky, University of Southern Queensland, the University of Oxford, University of Queensland, CentraleSupelec, DLR, Korean Advanced Institute of Science and Technology. S. Loehle was participating in nearly all airborne re-entry observation campaigns aiming at improving the understanding of re-entry, whether destructive or aiming at a safe landing on ground. Latest examples are the OSIRIS-REx observation mission in 2023 and the ESA ROSIE observation mission in 2024, where he was the scientific lead. He is AIAA Associate Fellow, published 103 journal articles and over 170 conference contributions.
